Birds of the Indian Hills 



THE NECTARINID.E OR SUNBIRD FAMILY 



The sunbirds are feathered exquisites. They 

 take in the Old World the place in the New 

 World occupied by the humming-birds. Sun- 

 birds, however, are superior to humming-birds 

 in that they possess the gift of song. They 

 are not particularly abundant in the Himalayas, 

 and, as they do not seem to occur west of 

 Garhwal, I am perhaps not justified in giving 

 them a place in this essay. 



I do so because one species is fairly common 

 round about Naini Tal. I have seen this bird 

 — the Himalayan yellow -backed sunbird 

 (ALthofyga scherice) — flitting about, sucking 

 honey from the flowers in the verandah of the 

 hotel at the brewery below Naini Tal. 



The head and neck of the cock are glisten- 

 ing green. The back, shoulders, chin, throat, 

 breast, and sides of the head are crimson. 



The lower parts are greenish yellow. The 

 two median tail feathers are longer than the 

 others. The bill is long and curved. The 

 hen is a comparatively dull greenish-brown 

 bird. 



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